Problem with cash reward card

19 years ago

I have an American Express Blue Cash card which is supposed to pay 5% back on groceries and gas and 1% on other purchases after a certain threshold has been reached. We have been using this card since last fall.

It may be coincidental, but shortly after I reached the threshold, purchases from my local commisary (military grocery story) which had previously been classified on my statement as Groceries were now being classified as AMEX purchase. Likewise, my Hess and Sheetz (mini-mart chains in this area) gas charges which were previously classified as Service Station were now not given any category at all.

For the past 2 months, we have had to call customer service at American Express and one by one get our commisary charges re-classified to Grocery. We have had varying degrees of assistance from the various customer service reps. The commisary manager says that there has been no change in the way charges are rung up and the AmEx people cannot explain why this is happening.

Any thoughts? Right now, I'm thinking I would do well to get my yearly cash back check and look for a different rewards card.

Nancy

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Comments (7)

drcindy
19 years ago
I would fax to them your prior statements showing evidence of this change in categorization. It they still can't explain it or are unwilling to help, I'd probably look for a different card. Have you spoken to a supervisor at AmEx yet?
nannygoat_gw
Original Author
19 years ago
>>>>>Have you spoken to a supervisor at AmEx yet?

No, I haven't gotten beyond the customer service reps---two out of the four had thick foreign accents and I wasn't entirely sure that they could understand what I was trying to say.
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western_pa_luann
19 years ago
All the more reason to ask for a supervisor!
rachelh
19 years ago
Just wondering in these scenarios even if you request a supervisor, how do you know that you are getting one and not just transferred to someone else posing as a supervisor to give you the same line. I feel like that happens to me alot.
housenewbie
19 years ago
REcently, i was traveling in Canada and I was told of a trick to get a native English-speaker using Dell's tech support (as w/ so many others, they've sent their tech support to India; and apparently not to the part of India where everyone speaks English. Guess it's gotten too expensive).

Anyhoo, this fellow said that after a couple hours of trying to deal w/ people he couldn't understand, he requested to be transferred to the French support, which is in Quebec (in the officially *bilingual* country of Canada). Problem solved.

Now, maybe this would also work for Amex and other companies sending their customer "service" jobs abroad. I'm planning to try it the next time I have to deal w/ one of these companies, but i'd be really interested to see if anyone else has success.

To get off on the right foot w/ the nice French speakers, try this: (spelled phonetically)
"Bonjour. Ess kuh vooz et Quebecois? [if yes ("wee"), great. If no, still try:] "Parley-vooz Anglais?" [If yes, then continue w/ your questions.] And, when you're done, a hearty "Merci bow-coo" is in order.

Hope this helps!
saphire
19 years ago
Your best chance to get an English speaker is to call in the middle of the day. When it is night in India. Also supervisors are usually native in English or at least have a better command of the language. When you call, ask to be moved to a supervisor immediately and politely. Do not go into the problem except to give a category explanation so they know the type of supervisor to get for you

Someone merely posing as a supervisor could get in trouble since calls are monitored and recorded. I do not think it happens esepecially not at a bank or credit card company which is subject to government regulation
cissado
19 years ago
Can't really help with your issue, but... I have the 'Blue' card and was under the impression it had no limit for cash back. I think they've recently changed it to no limit. The way I've read it was that it's an across the board offer, not an individual offer.

Problem with cash reward card

Comments (7)

drcindy

nannygoat_gw
Original Author

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Problem with cash reward card

Comments (7)

drcindy

nannygoat_gwOriginal Author

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western_pa_luann

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nannygoat_gw
Original Author